4S hits the streets, Apple fans go nuts

It's become a predictable rite of commerce and yet still remains remarkable in its uniqueness: Each time Apple puts a new hardware product on sale, die-hard customers line up early to make sure they go home with their new tech toy on Day 1. So it was that a global frenzy greeted the arrival of the iPhone 4S around the world. (In the U.S. the unit went on sale at 8 a.m.
eastern. It'll be available at 8 a.m. in each time zone.)

In this image, customers queue outside the Apple store in Covent Garden to buy an iPhone 4S on October 14, 2011 in London, England.

Credit: Getty

The phone - Apple's fifth - has a faster processor and an
improved camera compared with last year's model.
In this image, a man holds the new iPhone 4S after being one of the first customers in the Apple store in Covent Garden on October 14, 2011 in London, England.

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Duncan Hoare, the first person to leave the Apple store in Covent Garden after buying an iPhone 4S on October 14, 2011 in London, England.

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People queue outside the Apple store to purchase discounted iPhone 4's in Hong Kong on October 14, 2011

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An elderly woman carries her newly purchased iPhone 4's as she leaves the Apple store in Hong Kong on October 14, 2011.

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Apple staff applaud a customer as he enters the Apple store in Covent Garden to buy an iPhone 4S on October 14, 2011 in London, England.

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Fans wait in front of a shop in Tokyo to buy the iPhone 4S

Credit: Associated Press

Fans wait in line in front of a Softbank Mobile Corp. shop in Tokyo to buy its new iPhone 4S on the launch day in Japan Friday, Oct. 14, 2011.

Credit: Associated Press

Lines outside the Apple store on New York's Fifth Ave. wrap around the block as people wait for the iPhone 4S. AT&T, Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel will also be selling the new iPhone 4S. The roster of retailers selling the newest iPhone.includes Best Buy, Target, Sam's Club, and Radio Shack.

Credit: CNET/Sarah Tew)

An Apple employee gives people tickets as they line-up.

Credit: CNET/Sarah Tew)

The line for the iPhone 4S at the Apple store on Fifth Ave. went down 58th St. along of FAO Scwhartz.

Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET

Raphael Journ

Hundreds of people lined up in front of Apple's store near Paris's opera house to buy an iPhone 4S.

Credit: Stephen Shankland

An Apple customer displays his newly purchased iPhone 4s outside of the Apple Store on Broadway and 67th Street on October 14, 2011 in New York City.

Credit: Getty Images

The new Apple iPhone 4Gs is displayed at an Apple store on October 14, 2011 in San Francisco.